If you’re reading this blog out and about, stop for a moment and look around. What do you see? Chances are you didn’t make any awkward eye contact with strangers because everyone was looking down at their phone screens. According to a recent study on Statista, there are nearly 290 million cellphone users in the US. Of these users, 46% of Americans are on their phones for five to six hours a day, and an additional 11% spend seven or more hours on their phones daily. That’s a ton of time on social media, game apps, search engines, and websites like yours!
All these numbers should lead you to one conclusion: having a mobile-friendly website is imperative for online success. This means optimizing your site for shorter load times, content written for a mobile user’s attention span, eliminating pop-ups, and, of course, eliminating a cluttered layout.
So why does having a mobile-friendly website matter? There are three main reasons.
Mobile Sites Drive eCommerce.
The faster and easier your website is for eCommerce, the better sales conversions you’ll see! From my experience working with boutiques and other retailers, their revenue increases significantly by focusing on the attributes listed above. The user interface provides a better and more reliable shopping experience for both consumers and your bottom line!
Consumers Are Increasingly Impatient.
It was never a secret, but in case you didn’t know, our culture is becoming more impatient. Even I can apply this on a daily basis- if a page doesn’t load fast enough, I will leave that domain. The same is true for millions of others! The frustration and sense of urgency cause searchers to turn away and discourage Google from ranking your page higher, which leads me to my next point.
Google Prioritizes Mobile Indexing.
The key to getting found by users online is to get indexed on Google- without this step, there’s no chance of organic success. Because such a large amount of searchers use their mobile devices over desktops, Google has self-professed its preference for indexing here. I recommend reading more about their tips.
Do you really need to dish out cash for a web designer or marketer to redesign your site? My answer is vague but true: it depends. Start by running a Page SpeedInsights test and a mobile-friendly test. If you aren’t liking the results, it’s time to either invest in an agency or learn how to do it yourself. Smarter Searches is an agency that puts emphasis on improving your website’s accessibility and speed to produce the user experience needed for results. Learn more to see how our optimization team can help!
